There are certain PC hardware components that seem to be as much about overkill as actual performance. The X79 platforms allows for over the top builds like overclocked $1000 CPUs, multiple $1000 video cards, and terabytes of SSD storage. Today we’re looking at a Kingston HyperX Beast kit that fits in perfectly well with such a build – a 64 GB memory kit (8 x 8GB) that comes clocked at 2133 MHz without overclocking.

You’ll have to pay the price to cram this much memory into your system, especially with DDR3 prices increasing as much as they are. Currently the HyperX Beast DDR3 2133 64GB sells for over $600 at most online stores. But if you spend $1000 on your CPU and $2000 on your video cards, what’s another $600 right?

Kingston HyperX Beast KHX21C11T3FK8/64X Specs

CL(IDD)

9 cycles

Row Cycle Time (tRCmin)

49.5ns (min.)

Refresh to Active/Refresh Command Time (tRFCmin)

260ns (min.)

Row Active Time (tRASmin)

36ns (min.)

Maximum Operating Power

2.460 W* (per module)

UL Rating

94 V - 0

Operating Temperature

0° C to +85° C

Storage Temperature

-55° C to +100° C

Kingston HyperX Beast KHX21C11T3FK8/64X Features

XMP TIMING PARAMETERS

JEDEC: DDR3-1333 CL9-9-9 @1.5V

XMP Profile #1: D3-2133 CL11-12-11 @1.65V

XMP Profile #2: D3-1600 CL9-9-9 @1.6V

FEATURES

JEDEC standard 1.5V (1.425V ~ 1.575V) Power Supply

VDDQ = 1.5V (1.425V ~ 1.575V)

667MHz fCK for 1333Mb/sec/pin

8 independent internal bank

Programmable CAS Latency: 9, 8, 7, 6

Posted CAS

Programmable Additive Latency: 0, CL – 2, or CL – 1 clock

Programmable CAS Write Latency(CWL) = 7 (DDR3-1333)

8-bit pre-fetch

Burst Length: 8 (Interleave without any limit, sequential with starting address “000” only), 4 with tCCD = 4 which does not allow seamless read or write [either on the fly using A12 or MRS]

Average Refresh Period 7.8us at lower than TCASE 85°C, 3.9us at 85°C < TCASE < 95°C

Asynchronous Reset

PCB : Height 1.827″ (46.41mm) w/ heatsink, double sided component

Above you’ll find the features and specs in condensed format (or you can read the original Kingston document – either way we’re not wasting an entire page showing nothing but specs!) The main XMP setting is for DDR3-2133 CL11-12-11 @1.65V. The use of XMP allows the user to use these high speeds simply by selecting the value in the BIOS. A DDR3-1600 spec is also provided, running at 1600 CL9-9-9 @1.6V. If neither of these, the DDR3-1333 spec is used. Having a low clocked JEDEC encode on the SPD is important for compatibility – it allows the memory to be used in boards that may struggle with the XMP timings for whatever reasons. From there, the user can enter the timings manually, adjusting as needed. This shouldn’t be necessary for most people, but it’s there if you need it.

Kingston HyperX Beast Installation

Once installed, the HyperX Beast kit looks fantastic. 8 channels of memory running at 2133 MHz might not mean much for real world performance, but it sure looks good! Note that the heatsinks used on the HyperX Beast are quite tall at 1.8″ / 46.4mm. These will get in the way of certain heatsinks that don’t make room for giant memory modules. Chances are though, that someone spending $600 on their memory is using a liquid cooling kit anyway. In that case, it doesn’t matter.

If you do opt for water cooling, then you will certainly have room for the included cooling fans that come with the 64GB version of HyperX Beast. In fact, that would be the only way you’d be able to accommodate these coolers – they are HUGE:

The paradox makes sense – the HyperX Beast fan kit can only be used with a liquid cooling system, and only ever should need to be used in that scenario. The fans are big and heavy, but easy enough to install. The thumb screws are loosely installed, and tightened once the clips go over the DIMM levers. Once installed, they will spin at 3000 RPM, blowing around 15 CFM over the HyperX Beast modules. It’s a nice bonus feature added by Kingston, and doesn’t seem to increase the price – in fact the HyperX Beast 64GB kit is cheaper than any other 2133 MHz 64 GB kit I see listed.

Without the fans, you have some more room to work with in terms of air cooling, but not much. Keep in mind that while heat usually isn’t an issue with memory, Sandy Bridge-E can put out quite a bit of heat when overclocked. You will have to keep this in mind when putting together a high end system like this.

Overclocking HyperX Beast

Coming in at 2133 MHz with the voltage already topped out at 1.65v, you probably know what to expect from this kit. Turns out, we were able to get no more than 2200 MHz out of it. No amount of latency tweaks would allow us to take it any higher. The good news is, we were able to reach this speed with stock latency settings, so it’s basically a free easy overclock. Benchmark results were improved, as you’d expect.

HyperX Beast Performance

SiSoft Sandra 2013 was used for the following benchmark results:

While real world performance isn’t as greatly affected by memory speed as much as these benchmarks, you can be sure that your memory is as insignificant a bottleneck as possible when using these speeds.

Conclusions

The Kingston HyperX Beast 64GB is beastly in every way imaginable. 64GB of system memory means that not only do you never need to worry about running out, you actually have quite a bit extra left over for useful tricks like RAM partitions and such. Running at 2133 MHz CL11, this kit nearly hit 50 GB/s in benchmarks, with latency around 23ns. The only question might be if it’s worth dropping around $600 on memory. The answer is entirely up to you – nobody NEEDS this much memory, but when you have it, you will be glad for it.

As for the beastly fan included, I would only bother when liquid cooling is used. Otherwise it’s just too cumbersome to deal with. The fact that liquid cooling is a natural choice for a kit like this has me thinking that the inclusion was a wise decision on Kingston’s part.

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